2007 Films In Review
It's end of the year list time, hooray!

This has been a good movie year. People often like to hold each new year up against some banner year in film (especially geek film) like 1999 (Fight Club, The Matrix, etc) or 1982 (Blade Runner, E.T., etc..) 2006 gave those years a good run with films like Children of Men, The Fountain, and Pan's Labyrinth, but 2007 has been no slouch. It has been a great year for funny movies, in fact, and I think that's almost always harder to find than a great year for serious films.

My top list isn't an award prognostication or my attempt to list the best of anything; it's just a list of my personal faves. If you see one or two things on this list that you like, chances are good that you should give the rest a try.

1. Juno - This may be sitting on top only because it is so recent in my mind, but it's the one movie I've seen this year that I wanted to see again imediately. Ellen Page is so good in this, and her character is so likeable that I wish that we'd get a series of sequels to this instead of an endless stream of Saw or Spider-Man flicks. The movie is cute and warm without ever falling into sentimental schlock. The teen dialogue is a little stylized so it sometimes sounds like the film is taking place in a hightened alternate universe, but just slightly. I can't recommend this one enough.

2. The King of Kong - I love it when a documentary can end up on my favorites list. I try to see a couple documentaries in the theater each year and this year brought the best one I've seen in a long time. This is the perfectly constructed sports underdog film but it happens to be about guys playing competitive Donkey Kong, and it happens to be real. I took a group of friends to this one and It was one of the best times I had at the movies all year.

3. The Boss of it All - I didn't catch this during its seven day theatrucal run in Atlanta, but I rented it just as soon as I could and it was great. I never know what to expect from Lars von Trier, and even then, an office comedy was completely out of left field. This film was so dryly funny that I was always surprised at how much genuine laughter it was eliciting. The experimental camera techniques lend the film a strange "wrongness" that takes pretty ordinary conversations and renders them hilarious. I loved this one and I hope von Trier has more of this kind of stuff in him.

4. There Will Be Blood - seeing the premier of this one with PT Anderson in attendance probably hightened the experience, but I still expect this to hold up over time. It's such a simple story with a small cast, but it's incredibly well shot, acted, directed, and scored. People who want a not-so-pleasant but riveting and sophisticated film to watch this winter probably won't find a better film than this one.

5. No Country For Old Men - The Coens are back and this film was so solid that I'm willing to forget that the last two they directed even happened. I love the silence in this, and the way that the film plays with the same kind of dread-building that drives THERE WILL BE BLOOD. The two films are really different but they both share some tonal qualities and they both feature some ruthless human monsters that are just plain fun to watch if you are a fan of movies.

6. The Cold Hour - It's probably not going to show up at your local theater (ever) but this was a smart, well-designed, wonderful sci-fi flick that kept me completely engaged through a string of pretty familiar concepts. There's maybe nothing completely new about this film other than the refreshing care with which it was made and the point of view of its protagonist, but it's wonderful to be able to see a fully realized and well-executed sci-fi film in these days of easy CGI shitfests. I saw a handful of Spanish films this year and this one edged out the rest. Movies from Spain are suddenly on my radar in a big way.

7. Grindhouse - I liked Planet Terror and loved Death Proof, and with the trailers and everything thrown in, this managed to be greater than the sum of its parts. I'm not a blind Tarantino or Rodriguez follower, but they both scored big points with this one. The double feature format was fantastic and I wish it had done well enough to warrant a series of similar events. Maybe one day we'll get a double bill of Machete and Don't... a guy can dream.

8. Son of Rambow - I imagine that this film will come out sometime around the release of the new RAMBO flick, unless Stallone's people see that as something that will confuse ticket buyers. I wouldn't put anything past your average Rambo fan, honestly. This was a great film though, full of fun and heart and playful energy. I've compared it before to Danny Boyle's Millions and I think that's still probably the best reference point. I am anxious to see how this does when it is finally released because I think it's the kind of film that can connect with a lot of people, but it's a Brit-made comedy and sometimes the accent alone is a death sentence in the USA.

9. Hot Fuzz - I'm officially on the Edgar Wright bandwagon, and I'm okay with that. Despite the fact that this film was mis-sold to the US audience, it did pretty well here and it warranted a quick DVD release and a surprisingly quick double dip with a 3 DVD set a few months later. I think you have to chock this up to the legacy of Shaun of the Dead which seems to have very quickly reached a certain level of cult status. I'm glad this is all working out, because it means Wright and his merry band of players will get to keep brining us movies at a pretty regular interval. I don't know if Wright is always going to be the guy making the comedic riff/homage to a particular style of film, I hope he tries something else (Antman would be cool!) but if I can offer this suggestion: take to the stars. We need an Edgar Wright sci-fi film, there's no question about it.

10. The Host - I had a hard time picking between this film and a few others that I really liked this year. This spot could have easily included the very simple and touching Once or the thoughtful and funny documentary What Would Jesus Buy? or a double feature of Knocked Up and Superbad which were both funny and will warrant repeat viewings. But I had to stick up for the Korean monster movie that had more clever moments and more attention to character detail than probably any other giant monster movie in decades. The creature design is fantastic, the gags alternate between funny and scary, and the story focuses as it should on the people, not the cars, buildings, or streets that the monster tears up. This will probably get sequelized over and over in Korea as it seems a lot of Asian cinema works that way. I guess they learned it from us: take a great idea that makes a few bucks and retread it over and over until it starts losing, then try something else. Maybe a sequel to The Host will be just as great, I hope so, but even if it isn't, I loved this movie and would be proud to own it.